06/29/06 Food & Wine

Welcome to Vine to Wine this is your host Linda Moran and today is food and wine pairing day. Recently we celebrated the birthday of one of my favorite friends and it was a great party. Her husband is a chef so the food was of course amazing! But the dish that caught my fancy that night was a side dish of bell peppers. On today's program we are going to talk about a simple side dish to serve beside a red wine focused meal. A simple vegetable side dish alongside grilled or roasted meats is not often the item that gets all of the raves at a dinner. But I find that it can create a very pleasant bridge from lighter food to heavier food and make them all work together. One such dish is made by coring and cutting into chunks red, yellow and orange bell peppers and baking them slowly in an oven with low heat. The sweetness of the peppers just explodes and if you avoid overcooking them, the crunchy texture will add an unexpectedly pleasant dimension to the meal. That is exactly what my chef friend Edward did for the birthday dinner and I have to tell you it truly worked with the California Zin and the Washington red wines by creating a refreshing yet savory flavor bridge between the meats and the wines. What a delight! Thank you my friend for giving yet another culinary inspiration to share with our listeners. And thank you for joining me on today's Vine to Wine.